Teacher Purple Laksmi

No matter how hard life is, there is beauty in every corner if we just look.

Darkness will always set fear, anxiety and chaos, seek the light, seek the truth, seek God.

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Hard Truth:

Other countries experience heavy rain and flooding too…

…but the difference is how they prepare for it.

⸻

5 Countries That Take Flood Management Seriously

1. Netherlands 🇳🇱

A huge part of the country is vulnerable to flooding, so they don’t simply keep building higher walls.

What they do:

* Massive dikes and storm-surge barriers
* Delta Works flood-defense system
* “Room for the River” projects
* Areas intentionally designed to safely hold excess water

Instead of asking, “How do we stop water completely?”

They also ask:
“Where can we safely allow the water to go?”

⸻

2. Japan 🇯🇵

Japan gets typhoons and extreme rainfall too.

What they built:

* Huge underground flood tunnels
* Massive water-storage shafts
* Diversion channels
* Pumps that redirect excess water into larger rivers

Near Tokyo, their Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel runs roughly 6.3 km long and around 50 meters underground.

They literally built infrastructure under the city to give floodwater somewhere to go.

⸻

3. Singapore 🇸🇬

Small country. Dense population. Heavy tropical rain.

Sounds familiar?

What they do:

* Constant drainage upgrades
* Flood monitoring
* Detention and water-storage systems
* Marina Barrage flood-control system
* Pumps that push excess stormwater out to sea during high tide

Singapore says it has invested almost S$2 billion in drainage improvements over the past decade.

Their strategy is basically:

Manage the water before it reaches people and property.

⸻

4. Denmark 🇩🇰

After Copenhagen experienced severe cloudburst flooding, they developed a long-term plan instead of treating every flood as a surprise.

Their approach includes:

* Roads that can help channel excess rainwater
* Parks and open spaces designed to temporarily hold water
* Underground drainage projects
* Decades-long climate adaptation planning

Some infrastructure isn’t designed only for sunny days.

It is designed around the bad days too.

⸻

5. United Kingdom 🇬🇧

London faces serious tidal and river flooding risks.

Their response?

The Thames Barrier.. one of the world’s largest movable flood barriers…works together with hundreds of other flood defenses protecting London.

They’re also pushing sustainable drainage systems that slow down, store and manage rainwater instead of simply forcing everything into traditional drains.

⸻

Philippines 🇵🇭

We cannot stop typhoons.

We cannot stop Habagat.

We cannot tell the rain,
“Tama na, traffic na sa EDSA.” 😅

But flooding isn’t only about how much rain falls.

It’s also about:

* Where the water goes
* Whether drainage can handle it
* Whether waterways remain clear
* How cities are planned
* Whether flood-control infrastructure actually works
* And whether projects are maintained for decades, not just inaugurated

And most important question is: where the budget goes?

⸻

The goal should never be “zero floods.”

Even the best-prepared countries still experience flooding.

The goal is:

When extreme rain comes, fewer homes are destroyed, fewer businesses lose everything, fewer people are stranded, and life returns to normal faster.

Because maybe the question isn’t:

“Bakit ba laging bumabaha?”

Maybe we should start asking:

“After decades of experiencing the same problem… bakit parang lagi pa rin tayong nagugulat kapag umulan?”

Flooding may be natural.
Being permanently unprepared shouldn’t be. 🇵🇭

One thing we learned this weekend is to just go for it!

So whether it rains or not we're going for it. We just have plan B in place.

We're hoping the skies stay clear for a beautiful day of books, stories, and creativity!

After having to reschedule "Booklatan, Sining Likhain", we're looking forward to gathering together on August 22 at Navadwip Farm for a day filled with reading, sharing, costumes, games, and family fun.

We're keeping our fingers crossed that the weather allows us to finally celebrate together. 🌤️📖 At the same time, we know many families are experiencing the effects of the current storm, and our hearts are with everyone who has been affected.

Please continue to stay safe, stay dry, and take all necessary precautions during the storm. Your safety and the safety of your families always come first.

If the weather permits, we can't wait to welcome everyone for:

📖 9:00 AM–12:00 NN

* Garden open for picnic
* Free-flow activities
* Booths, fruit picking, and outdoor activities

📚 1:00–3:00 PM

* Read Aloud sessions by grade level or group
* Showcase of favorite book costumes and characters
* Games and trivia inspired by favorite books
* Journaling activity for parents

Don't forget to bring your "favorite book for sharing" and come dressed as your favorite children's book character! If you don't have a costume, you can also create one on-site and join the fun.

📅 August 22, 2026 (Saturday)
📍 Navadwip Farm, Batas, Silang, Cavite
🎟️ ₱150/person

We remain hopeful that the weather will cooperate and that we'll finally be able to celebrate the joy of books and learning together.

For those who wish to join but can't make it onsite we have an online showcase 3pm-4:30pm

Until then, please keep safe, look after one another, and we'll see you when the skies are kinder.

Grateful for an unexpected 3 nights and 4 days of rest and relaxation due to the inclement weather last week.

Tuesday morning, the sun was finally out, but our participants messaged us saying their areas were affected by the flood due to continuous rain.

Lyn said to just push through with it, whether there would be participants or not. Glad we did!

My daughters, Vanamali and Vaishnava, prepared the table and art materials while I helped with the food.

Bonggavilla's staff prepared her pita bread demo. The video will be uploaded soon. She made two types of recipes: wheat and chickpea, with Lyn's guidance. They were both delicious! Especially when paired with my langkanaise.

I shared with them my 3-langka dishes: Adobo (dried one, request ni Mr. Rupa), Langkatsu with the bread crumbs (wala kasi ahah), and Langkannaise.

My daughters and Lyn did the art session together. I got so relaxed and inspired that I finished 3. My daughter said, " These sessions are really meant for you, so you can finally do art.

Wednesday morning's outreach and Greens Resto Sining Likhain were also cancelled. This time, it was also raining hard in Bonggavilla.

Lyn asked my daughters to sing for her and the staff before we left. They happily did when it stopped raining for a while. A private concert it was! I saw tearful eyes in the audience.

Of course, breakfast was special. Since there was leftover pita bread, Lyn prepared a dish to go with it. Also making use of my leftover scrambled tofu - YUM! Perfect for the pita bread or for Rupa RICE! ahahaha.

With matching bilo-bilo dessert pa! Wow! Todo pampering na. I was so amazed at how my painting matched the bilo-bilo. Hahaha, I was going for colorful bubbles. Shoutout to Ate Nelds. (Nagpuyat for the bilo-bilo)

I loved how these past days were spent, even with the unfavorable circumstances. We couldn't do anything about it. It was out of our control, and yet everything seemed to be in its proper place - as if it was what was meant to happen.

I got to bond with an old friend, whom I haven't seen in almost a decade. She's one of those people who walked into my life unexpectedly too. She supported me and believed in me while Gopala was still starting. And now, I am returning the favor by helping her out with her new project.

It's a beautiful work-in-progress project. Please visit her place. Support her. When you have the time and the weather permits. It's in Pulilan, Bulacan.

Getting there is quite tricky (do not take the left turn after Petron Station if coming from NLEX unless you want to end up in the palayan hehehe, especially at night), but once you're there. You're like in a familial bubble- it feels like home: good food (of course, fully plant-based for us - you can cook your own food) and a cozy, nature-inspired space. You can bring your family, friends, workmates, or community. They recently had more than 50 weekend guests. They can fit more!

Thank you, Lyn and staff, of BonggaVilla Private Resort. We'll come back when the time and weather align again. 🥰😘😍

On point. asan na?

As someone who is trying to build a livelihood. This is the sad reality.

I had to cancel all our plans because of the floods.

Yes we try to make the bad into something worthwhile but we can't keep silent and not do anything.

We need people to be held accountable.
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They sell you a condo for P20 million. "Prime location." Luxury. Strategic.

Then it rained on Monday and, suddenly, "strategic" means you can see Makati from the window but you can't get to it.

You're 10 minutes from Makati CBD. On the brochure. By kayak, maybe 12 minutes.

And the developer still calls it "resort-style living." There's water everywhere. Venice with leptospirosis. That's the miracle of Metro Manila real estate. First-world prices sitting on top of fourth-world drainage.

"Exclusive community." Nobody can get in. Nobody can get out. Imagine spending P70 million on a penthouse and calling your business partner: "I can't come in today."

"Why?"

"My luxury has surrounded me."

Location, location, location. Everybody knows it. In Manila? Elevation, elevation. The truly rich guy is the bastard across the street whose driveway is eight inches higher. That guy is an oligarch.

"But, sir, technically, the flooded road is outside the property."

Outside the property? That's how I get to the property. Try selling a fancy restaurant and say, "The food is fantastic. Unfortunately, there's no door." Unless the penthouse comes with a helicopter. Then we're talking.

Everybody in Metro Manila has already solved the flood. Except the people whose job it was to solve the flood.

Raised sidewalks, entrances; elevated parking. Condo has pumps; mall, barriers. The poor raise their stuff because they can't afford to raise the floor. The commuter buys boots. People buy 4x4.

You live in Metro Manila long enough even the way you look at cars changes. You see a sedan, nice car. Then it rains.

Now you're looking at height. Tires. Ground clearance. Then you see the guy with the Ram and snorkel. A snorkel. In the city.

You used to look at the guy and say, what a lunatic. Where is he going? Africa? No. He's going to f*cking Landers. His office is in Ortigas.

People have started buying around the flood. Building around the flood. Driving around it. Living around it.

And, because people adapt, government gets away with it. You lose P800 because you can't get to work. Restaurant throws away food. A business loses a day. A delivery rider takes an P80,000 motorcycle into floodwater to deliver an order worth P39.

Thirty-nine pesos.

Who priced the motorcycle into the delivery? His factory just went underwater. Maybe P39 looked cheap because nobody charged you for the full risk of getting it to you?

We push the cost to the gutter until it reaches somebody too small to push it any farther. Nobody calls it tax. I will. The flood tax. Congress never passed it. BIR doesn't collect it. No receipt. But, every time it rains, you pay.

Unlike normal tax (which is at least supposed to build something useful), flood tax often pays to repair the thing you already paid to build.

It's like buying an umbrella then getting charged because you still got wet. Maybe that's the real flood scandal. And it's only one version of the problem.

Open a business in the Philippines and everybody tells you "You need a generator." Really? I thought I needed customers?

And nobody says this apologetically. "Generator?" Yessir. Like you're an idiot for expecting electricity from the electricity company.

Then you need backup Internet. Backup supplier. Backup route. Backup vehicle. Eventually you need a backup Philippines.

We hear the same pitch about the Philippines. Easy place to do business. English-speaking workers. Young workforce. Cheap labor. Very attractive.

But cheap labor isn't cheap if you can't reliably get the labor to the building.

You show investors Philippine wages against Singapore. Great. Now show them Monday morning when 18 percent of the shift is stranded because Magallanes tunnel disappeared.

You don't care that Filipinos are resilient. As an investor, that word might scare you. Why does everybody need to be so f*cking resilient? You want employees who arrive boringly, work boringly, go home boringly.

Resilience is what you need when reliability has already failed. | Vernon Velasco

As a homeschool advocate I would strongly advocate parents to homeschool your children especially in this time of increasing violence and all other negative things happening around us.

But more importantly than homeschool I'd strongly advocate parents to be present, hands-on and intentional with your children.

Know what they're doing and experiencing by being open with them.

Have a good relationship with them that you are their first person to go to when things aren't doing good.

This does not happen overnight.

It is not that you will be their best friend.
No, be the parent who love and disciplines.
Discipline with love and care.

Let the message of love flow through your actions and words while you discipline them.

Do not give in to their demands.
As much as possible do not give them gadgets/cellphones. Delay it as much as you can.

IF we don't discipline our children and raise them. The world will raise them for us. And we are handing our parental approval by giving them the gadgets/cellphones.

Those are the days when we keep our children away by keeping them in our homes. Now the danger is handed to them inside our homes.

We become the provider of the thing that destroys them.

Above all, introduce them to God. Let their faith in Him help them get through their daily struggles and challenges because we cannot protect them forever.

Sir Cris Vinson, a global entrepreneur, who speaks internationally about AI integration, shared with us parents the dangers of gadget/social media and AI, the other week. It was a timely talk.

(Roblox na naman).

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR: SHOOTING INCIDENT SA ATENEO DE ZAMBOANGA JHS

As of 6:20 PM, August 18, 2026

Isang Grade 8 student ang namaril sa Ateneo de Zamboanga University Junior High School bandang 8:00 AM.

Samantala, kinumpirma ng Bureau of Customs na police chief ng Port of Zamboanga ang ama ng shooter at nakarehistro sa BOC ang isang baril na ginamit habang personal na baril naman ang isa pa.

Narito ang

Bisitahin ang gmanetwork.com/news para sa iba pang balita.

When we do things for God there is no such thing as a waste. He sees all our efforts big or small. It is never a failure even if it seems like it.

The weather in Bonggavilla was sunny but our participants' areas were affected by flood so they couldn't come.

Since we're already here. We continued and did our program anyway. We ate yummy and healthy snacks, did art session and enjoyed the good company.

Thankful for the good weather we got to appreciate the beauty of the place.

Plus we learned do make pita bread from scratch.

I also got to teach how to make 3 langka dishes to Ate Nelds - Adobo, pattie, and langkanaise. (Actually parang cooking session din ang naganap - exchange of recipes for the past 2 days)

(Lowkey ako talaga may gusto nito eh. Para sa akin talaga para makapag painting na ako. I did 3!) 🤭🥰

Thank you to my dear friend, Lyn, who invited us. Nakapagbakasyon ng biglaan. It's been a long time since we've hangout together this long.

In whatever we do, how we react/respond makes all the difference.

Life is short, so let's live it. Taking in the bad and making it into something worthwhile.

Visit them when the weather is better. 🥰
Lyn and her team are such great hosts.

Shoutout to Ate Nelds. Thank you.